Cheap holiday homes in Amsterdam to be halved in 2019 – as council cracks down on AirBnB-style websites
Amsterdam's local government has announced plans to impose a 30-day limit on letting private homes
BRITS are going to find it a lot tougher to find a cheap holiday flat in Amsterdam from now on.
The city has announced plans to impose a 30-day limit on letting private homes.
The local council wants to curb the amount of days AirBnB –style apartments are let to tourists.
The city council's executive said this week that the current annual 60-day limit for private home rentals will now be halved from 2019, "to stem the negative influence of holiday home rentals".
They added: "During the last few years there has been massive growth in the market of renting out homes to tourists, [with an unwanted] effect on various Amsterdam neighbourhoods."
The Dutch capital now attracts around 17 million tourists a year -- the same number as the whole of the Dutch population - and residents have increasingly complained about rowdy crowds.
One of the most popular lettings websites, AirBnB, as voiced disappointment in Amsterdam's plans to impose a 30-day limit on letting private homes, saying it will harm the local economy.
The company said in a letter sent to Amsterdam council, and shared with AFP: “We have built a responsible home sharing community on Airbnb benefiting the city and its inhabitants.”
They said that the 19,000 Airbnb hosts in the Dutch capital were "disappointed by your announcement ... to favour big hotels over local families who occasionally share their homes.
“While Airbnb guests account for just 4.0 percent of visitors to Amsterdam, they have boosted the Amsterdam economy by an estimated 500 million euros in 2016."
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Airbnb said legal experts have challenged whether the city's new ruling is tenable, and insisted the company had worked with the council to address its concerns.
Seven out of 10 people booking accommodation through the site stayed outside of the city centre, it said.
There are still plenty of cheap hotels in the city for tourists to bag a bargain break though - this March, .